What's all this about?

It's a McLaren Senna. With £300,000-worth of carbon fibre slathered over its form.

I'm terribly sorry... what?! Three-hundred grand's worth of carbon fibre?

Yup. This is the McLaren Senna Carbon Theme by McLaren Special Operations (MSO) and it'll be on its stand at the Geneva Motor Show. It features what MSO calls the Visual Carbon Fibre exterior, which is 67 different body parts in the material that take almost 1,000 hours to produce. Furthermore, the Carbon Theme has another 250 hours' worth of paintwork on it, as the Solar Yellow detailing on the sills, rear wing and front active aero blades, plus the Laurel Green brake calipers, take some serious labour too. Thus, even though one of the 500, ahem, 'regular' Sennas would set you back three-quarters of a million quid, if you wanted a Senna Carbon Theme by MSO, you'd need to add another £300,000 to the price tag. A pricey business.

I can barely get my head around it. But what's the significance of the yellow and green?

Come on, think about it! The car is called the Senna, after the Brazilian F1 legend who tragically left us in 1994. And his racing helmet was in the colours of his national flag. Namely, blue, as well aaaas...

Ah, right. Yellow and green.

Good, you've finally caught on. Solar and Laurel are repeated within the Senna Carbon Theme's cabin, with the stitching and the wheel's 12 o'clock marker in yellow, while the door gas struts are in green. Take note, also, of the Senna 'S' on the headrest of each seat, a detail which is repeated in satin finish Visual Carbon Fibre on the rear wing end plates and again on one of the front wings of the Senna.

Is there anything else from McLaren at the Geneva Motor Show?

Yes, MSO is also showing off the seven-spoke Hybrid Carbon Fibre Wheel design for the Senna, the only alternative to the three finishes for the sole factory rim. The MSO wheel is made of forged aluminium and carbon fibre, and each one weighs a mere 7.5kg apiece (without tyres); that's a reduction of 10 per cent on the regular alloy, which is highly useful when it comes to unsprung weight. Also, McLaren is going to make a 'surprise announcement' on March 6 at the show, so we're intrigued to find out more about that, as and when it develops...